[I Hate Waste] (2) Work Techniques: The Ultimate Organization Method from a Former Slob

Embarrassingly, I was a slob until my mid-20s. Even as I approached 30, my desk was piled high with documents, and I would waste minutes just looking for a printed proof. Because the documents were layered like geological strata, my excavation method involved guessing, "It should be around here if it's a proof from a few days ago."

Just a few minutes. But if that happens for 15 minutes a day, and I work 243 days a year, that's 3,645 minutes, or 60.75 hours. If this continues for years, how much of my life will be spent searching for things? Thinking about that scared me. One of the triggers for change was reading "The 'Super' Organization Method" by Yukio Noguchi.

With just one envelope, work stopped stalling

At the time, I was often away from the office for interviews or business trips. Furthermore, after I gave birth to my daughter and returned to work, I had to leave the office by 6:00 PM. This was an impossible work style for an advertising production company, which was a "city that never sleeps" back then. If documents were buried on my desk, designers couldn't see the materials they suddenly needed while I was away. In fact, I had caused trouble because of this.

So, I started managing paper documents by project using envelopes.

The method was to prepare an A4 envelope for each project and write the project name on the right-hand tab with a permanent marker. When you stand the envelopes up, the project name is visible from the front. Additionally, I would tape the project schedule, printed on A4 paper, to the front of the envelope. Just by picking up the envelope, you could see the progress at a glance.

I placed the envelopes for active projects on the shelf that was easiest to reach. I made sure I could take them out immediately if a client called. The envelope I took out was placed on my left, closer to me. The more active a project was, the closer it was, and less active projects naturally moved further away. When a project was finished, I moved it to the lower shelf and disposed of it after about three months.

After switching to this method, designers could see my materials if they needed to, even if I was at an interview, on a business trip, or after I had left the office. Even when I needed information from those materials while I was out, I could hear about it over the phone.

From envelopes to iCloud: the system changes, but the goal remains the same

The overall schedule for projects running in the company is managed for each designer. Who is working on which project and by when? If that isn't visible, the entire workflow gets clogged.

On the other hand, I used to manage my own work to-dos using a planner or the schedules attached to the project envelopes. Now, while looking at the overall schedule, I keep emails and Slack messages related to unfinished tasks marked as unread to prevent oversights. For me, "unread" is a sign that it is "not yet finished." I mark them as read once completed. It's simple, but hard to forget.

The concept of envelope management remains in my current data management. I store all my work data from the last 10 years or so on iCloud. It is broadly divided into folders for each client, and currently, there are mainly four companies. Inside those client folders, I create a folder for the currently active project names and a "Done" folder. I create shortcuts for active project folders and place them on my desktop. When a project is finished, I move the actual folder to "Done" and delete the shortcut.

The paper envelopes have just been replaced by folders in the cloud. Things that are active are placed in the front. Things that are finished are moved to the back. Even if the tools change, the thinking remains the same.

On the other hand, I don't intentionally organize my emails in detail. I don't create folders by thread or project, and basically, I keep everything in the inbox. This is because one email might contain information about two projects, and it's difficult to decide which folder to classify it into during the inquiry stage before a project is officially launched.

When searching for emails, I sort by sender, date, or subject. Or, I search by phrases in the body text. In my line of work, that is faster.

The goal of organization is "time margin"

While my workspace and home are tidy and have few items now, I wasn't originally someone who loved organizing. Wasting time looking for things, repeating the same routines over and over, and work stopping just because I wasn't there—by eliminating these wastes, I was eventually able to escape from being a slob with a messy room and desk.

Envelopes, shelves, planners, email, Slack, cloud. Even if the tools I use change, the purpose has always been the same.
Don't search. Don't get lost. Don't stop.
And what I wanted from that was to turn wasted time into margin time.

If you have margin, you can immediately respond to sudden troubles. You can go to unscheduled meetings. You can think of urgent plans. You can even wander around Ginza under the guise of looking for materials.

Margin is not just free time.
It is my mobility, allowing me to handle sudden work or sneak off to a cafe.

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For both work and tidying up, I believe that systems that "don't stop, don't clog, and make it easy to return things" are more important than talent or willpower. I have also written here about my way of thinking to reduce waste, how to build up trust assets, and the home systems that this former slob has arrived at.